Ephesians 3.17a-Christ's Power Dwelling in the Church Age Believer's Heart in Relation to Fellowship with God
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday August 24, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 3:17a-Christ’s Dwelling in the Church Age Believer’s Heart
Lesson # 175
Ephesians 3:14 For this reason, I make it my habit of bending my knees in the presence of the Father 15 from whom each and every family located in the heavens as well as located upon the earth is designated a name. 16 I make it a habit of occupying myself with praying that according to the wealth produced by His glory He would cause each and every one of you as a corporate unit to be given strength by means of power through the personal intermediate agency of His Spirit for the benefit of your inner being. 17 Namely that the one and only Christ’s power would dwell in your hearts through your faith …because each and every one of you are firmly rooted, yes specifically, because of all of you without exception are firmly established by means of the practice of divine-love. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 3:17 is composed of the following:
(1) complementary infinitival clause: katoikēsai ton Christon dia tēs pisteōs en tais kardiais hymōn (κατοικῆσαι τὸν Χριστὸν διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν), “namely that the one and only Christ’s power would dwell in your hearts through your faith” (Author’s translation)
(2) causal participial clause: en agapē errizōmenoi kai tethemeliōmenoi (ἐν ἀγάπῃ ἐρριζωμένοι καὶ τεθεμελιωμένοι), “because each and every one of you are firmly rooted, yes specifically, because of all of you without exception are firmly established by means of the practice of divine-love.” (Author’s translation)
Now, the reader must be aware of the fact that the conjunction hina (ἵνα), which appears in Ephesians 3:18 introduces the assertion exischysēte katalabesthai syn pasin tois hagiois ti to platos kai mēkos kai hypsos kai bathos (ἐξισχύσητε καταλαβέσθαι σὺν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἁγίοις τί τὸ πλάτος καὶ μῆκος καὶ ὕψος καὶ βάθος), “you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth.” (NET)
The thought from this assertion in Ephesians 3:18 is completed in Ephesians 3:17 with the causal participial clause en agapē errizōmenoi kai tethemeliōmenoi (ἐν ἀγάπῃ ἐρριζωμένοι καὶ τεθεμελιωμένοι), “because you have been rooted and grounded in love.” (NET)
This is indicated by the fact that both of these assertions form a single thought which are being introduced by the conjunction hina (ἵνα).
As we will note, the participial clause which completes Ephesians 3:18 is causal for emphasis.
Therefore, the translation of the conjunction hina (ἵνα) should be translated before the causal participle clause in Ephesians 3:17 rather than to begin Ephesians 3:18.
The complementary infinitival clause in Ephesians 3:17 parallels the infinitival clause direct object clause dynamei krataiōthēnai dia tou pneumatos autou eis ton esō anthrōpon (δυνάμει κραταιωθῆναι διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον), “to be given strength by means of power through the personal intermediate agency of His Spirit for the benefit of your inner being,” which appears in Ephesians 3:16.
In fact, the infinitival clause in Ephesians 3:17 explains the one in Ephesians 3:16.
Now, the infinitival clause here in Ephesians 3:17 contains the articular accusative masculine singular form of the proper name Christos (Χριστός), which refers of course to Jesus of Nazareth
It contains the figure of metonymy which means that the person of Christ, who is Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate Son of God, is put for His power or omnipotence.
That the referent is the omnipotent power of Jesus Christ is indicated by the fact that Paul in Ephesians 3:16 asserts that he prayed that the Father would grant the recipients of this epistle to be given strength by means of power through the personal intermediate agency of the Spirit for the benefit of their inner being i.e., the indwelling nature of Christ.
Thus, because Paul wants the recipients of this letter to be strengthen spiritually to do the Father’s will by receiving the omnipotence provided by the Spirit, when Paul asserts he wants Christ to indwell them, he is referring to the power of Christ.
In fact, in 1 Corinthians 1:24 Paul asserts that Christ is the power of God.
This power is received by the church age believer when they appropriate the Spirit inspired power of the Scriptures and in content, the Spirit inspired contents of Ephesians.
This would be accomplished by the recipients of this epistle appropriating by faith the Spirit inspired contents of this letter, which contain the omnipotence of God since Hebrews 4:12 asserts that God’s Word is power and is the mind and thinking of Christ (1 Cor. 2:1-16).
The articular dative feminine plural form of the noun kardia (καρδία), which means “hearts” and refers specifically to the hearts of the recipients of this epistle who were Gentile church age believers living in the various cities and towns in the Roman province of Asia.
This word denotes that aspect of the soul, which circulates thought or mental activity and is where one’s frame of reference and memory center resides.
It is also the place where one’s vocabulary and the classification of thoughts reside as well as the conscience where the norms and standards reside.
A person’s entire mental attitude circulates in the kardia (καρδία) as well as the subconscious where various categories of things that shock or impress from adversity, sin, failure or disappointment are located.
Also, it contains the volition, which enables a person to make decisions.
That the referent of the noun kardia (καρδία) is these Gentile church age believers who are the recipients of this epistle is indicated by the articular construction of this word and the genitive second person plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ), whose referent is these Gentile church age believers.
The latter means “each and every one of you as a corporate unit” or “all of you without exception” since the word not only refers to the recipients of this epistle as a corporate unit but is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.
The latter is indicated by the fact that Paul’s Spirit inspired prayer is intended for each one of the recipients of this epistle without exception.
The articular construction of the noun kardia (καρδία) is employed with the genitive second person plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ) to denote possession expressing the idea that these hearts “belong to” or are “the possession of” these Gentile church age believers living in the Roman province of Asia.
The noun kardia (καρδία) is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which means “in” since it functions as a marker of location which indicates the location in which the omnipotence of the one and only Christ dwells.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase en tais kardiais hymōn (ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν) expresses the idea that the power of Christ dwells “in the hearts of each and every one” of the recipients of this epistle through their faith in the Spirit inspired contents of this epistle.
The verb katoikeō (κατοικέω) in Ephesians 3:17 is used in a figurative or spiritual sense in relation to Jesus Christ and is used of the power of Christ living in the hearts of the recipients of the Ephesian epistle.
It is used in the context of the spiritual growth of church age believers while in fellowship with the triune God.
Specifically, as we noted, it speaks of the power of Christ living in the hearts of these believers when they exercise faith in the Spirit inspired contents of this letter.
This verb speaks of the power of Christ indwelling the hearts of the recipients of this epistle in the sense of taking possession of every aspect of their heart.
Namely, it speaks of the power of Christ taking possession of their thoughts or mental activity, their frame of reference and memory center as well as their vocabulary and classification of thoughts, including their conscience and subconscious and lastly, their volition.
That this verb katoikeō (κατοικέω) does not refer to the permanent indwelling of Christ but rather it is related to their fellowship with God is indicated by the fact that here in Ephesians 3:17 Paul is speaking to those who are already believers.
Thus, he is speaking in the context of fellowship with Christ, which is a dynamic and not static and can be lost due to sin.
Unlike the believer’s eternal relationship with Christ, their fellowship can be lost due to sin but restored through the confession of sin (1 John 1:9).
This fellowship is maintained by exercising faith in the Spirit inspired Scriptures which gives the believer capacity to obey the Spirit inspired command of Jesus Christ to love one another as He loves all believers.
Now, the infinitive conjugation of the verb katoikeō (κατοικέω) functions as a complementary infinitive which means that it is completing the thought of the third person singular aorist active subjunctive conjugation of the verb didōmi (δίδωμι), “he may grant,” which appears also in Ephesians 3:16.
This verb thus parallels the verb krataioō (κραταιόω), which appears in Ephesians 3:16.
This is indicated by the fact that the latter also functions as a complementary infinitive because it too is completing the thought of the third person singular aorist active subjunctive conjugation of the verb didōmi (δίδωμι), “he may grant.”
Both verbs are complementary infinitives because they identify for the reader what Paul is asking the Father in prayer to grant the recipients of this letter.
The complementary infinitival clause in verse 17 explains the one in verse 16 rather than presenting a second prayer request.